In fj.life.in-japan John W. <worthj1970@yahoo.com> wrote:
> B Anderson wrote:

> > Why is this. Obviously there are many unique and interesting things
> > about Japan... but same for any country.

> I've been trying to figure this out for a long time, and I've got
> several theories; most might apply only to me. But basically they all
> boil down to this, that there might be no other country in the world
> that offers both the breadth of modern conveniences (truly cutting
> edge) with the depth of history.

Well, much of western Europe.

> Japan is just amazingly complex. Add
> to this that as a foreigner we're outside the society and in many ways
> nobody expects us to belong of fit in; they don't hold it against us,
> it's just accepted. Some people hate this, but for me personally I feel
> a freedom in Japan that I don't anyplace else; not a freedom to act
> however I want, but a freedom from having to fit in. It's complex.

This latter is more like it. Personally, I feel it offers a pretty 
good balance between "familiar, modern, and convenient" and "different and
foreign". 

S Korea might offer much of this now, but then you have  to worry
about half a million crazed "Dear Leader" adherents on your border.

Mike